Various systems use lasers to generate rapid sequences of laser pulses. These rapid sequences of laser pulses are often described as having a “pulse burst” waveform. As an example, some conventional high-performance laser detection and ranging (LADAR) systems may require transmitters that can generate a rapid sequence of short high peak-power laser pulses followed by a period having no pulses, where this on-off pattern is repeated periodically. Such transmitters are often pumped using low average-power light sources, such as laser diodes. To achieve this burst mode, lasers would typically require a very high pump-power level during the pulse burst. Rough estimates for a representative pulse-burst format show that the pump power during the burst could easily reach 20 kW or more, which is comparable to power levels that might be produced by low-end high-energy laser (HEL) systems. Unfortunately, even low-end HEL systems are often unable to satisfy size, weight, power, and cost (SWaP-C) requirements in various applications.